Hand-brake for railway-cars



G. A. WOODMAN.

HAND BRAKE FoR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED IULY291920.

G. A. WOODIVIAN.

HAND BRAKE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED 1u1Y 29, 1920.

Patented 001. 18, 1921.

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'GEORGE a, woozmaaiw," on'emcaoo, ILLINOIS.

HAND-BRAKE Fon @WAY-cans.

Application led J'uly 29,

To all rwhom t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE A. WooDMAN, a'citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Brakes for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to improvements in hand brakes for vrailway cars and its object is primarily to provide an easily`7 operated brake of simple and substantial construction which will speedily take up the slack of the .brake chain and then apply the ower-effectively to secure the highest braking efficiency.

A-further objeet-of the invention and one which is of great importance in railway equipment is to provide a hand brake which is free from complicated mechanisms and delicate constructions Vand which comprises only a few arts which are substantially made to resist the shocks and strains to which railroad equipment is subjected and to secure eiicient service.

In the drawings, I have illustrated a selected'embodiment of the invention and referring thereto, Figure 1 Ashows the brake end of a box car with the invention applied thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the invention viewing the same as it appears in Fi 1.

ig. 3 is a sectional elevation on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views on the line 5-5 and 6-6 respectively, of Fig. 3. l

Figs. 7 and 8 are detailed sectional views.

Referring to the drawings, 9 designates the car and 10 is a casing which is fastened to the car in a suitable manner and in a location conforming with the usual practice, and substantially inclosing the working parts of the brake ,to form a protection therefor. The casing comprises an upward extension 11 to form a. guide for the rack bar 12, and a circular portion 13 which in.- closes the piions and ratchet devices. The rack bar 12 is angular in shape and its upper rack 14 and lower rack 15 are o-set with relation td` each other (Fig. 5). The rack bar is guided in the extension 11 and is rovided-with the peripheral shoulder 16 which egree of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921. 1920. Serial No. 399,827.

is adapted to engage ayflange 17 on the extension 11 to prevent the rack bar from dropping out of the casing (Fig. 7).

Ii operating handle lever 21 is arranged to operate through a slot 22 in the circular portion 13 of the casing and it is provided with a forked upper end 23 which is loosely engaged .with the shaft 20. A ratchet wheel 24 is rigidly secured on the shaft 20 within the fork of the handle lever and a working pawl 25 is pivotall mounted on the handle lever to co-act with' the ratchet 24 to give the handle lever a working connection with the shaft, A locking pawl 26 is pivotally mounted within the lcircular portion 13 of lock the shaft 20 against reverse movement, the handle 26. of this pawl projecting out through the slot 22 in a convenient position for operation to release the locking pawl from engagement with the ratchet.

My invention is designed to secure in a simple manner and with a combination of parts 4which is free from complications and delicate constructions a quick and efficient application of the brakes with a minimum of effort on the part of the brakeman by quickly taking u the slack on the brake chain and then shortening the fulcrum of the handle lever to enable the application of the power in a most eflicient manner. The large segment gear 18 and its rack 14 are made and disposed in such relation to each other that a predetermined amount of slack in the. brake chain 27 will be .speedily taken up when the handle lever is first operated, and then the small gear 19 engages rack 15 the applied power to the brake. It will be noted that the segment gear has a radius of much greater length than the radius of the small gear 19 and since both are mounted on the shaft 20 with the handle lever, it will be obvious that the fulcrum of the handle level' when the small gear en gages its rack will be much less than when the large .segment gear engages its rack so that the firstoperation of taking up the slackin'the chain, while the segment gear is co-acting with its rack to lift the bar 12, is quickly completed and d with comparative y little effort on the part of the brakeman. lVhen the rack 14 has traveled out of engagement with its segment gear. the rack 15 has engaged the small gear. The ears and racks are so timed that there will ge n0 lapse between the time the segment gear is released from operative engagement with its rack and the time the small gear vbecomes operatively engaged with its rack.

It will be apparent that the multiple gears must not be operatively engaged with .their racks simultaneously for any appreciable time, and that the small gear must take hold of its rack before the large gear lets go of its rack. This may be accomplished by arranging the racks inor about the manner shown in the drawings inwh1ch the lower tooth of the rack 14 yis located substantially opposite the upper toothy of'the rack 15. There is always'some slack'in the brake chainand the length of operative engagement between the large gear and' 'its rack will be predetermined to take up 'whatever slack is desired.

To release the brake, thehandle lever is raised slightly to enablethe locking pawl to be disenga ed from the ratchet whereupon the hanidle lever may be released t o swing by gravity to its normal upright position hanging down Vfrom the shaft. When the handle lever thus swings down the tail 25 of the working pawl 25 will engage the cam 28 on the casing to swing the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet so that the shaft may continue torotate until the rack bar has reached the limit of its downward movement as prescribed by the shoulder 16 and ange 17.

I have shown in the drawings a selected embodilnent of the' invention which'I consider entirely satisfactory for the purpose but I reserve the right to make all such changes in the form, constructionA and arrangement of arts as vfairly fall within the scope of the fo lowing claims:

I claim:

1. A railwayl car hand brake comprising a lengthwise movable multiple rack bar, aY

shaft, multiple gears of different diameters mounted on said shaft to engage the racks on said bar, and means for operating said shaft and gears to impart a variable speed movement to said rack bar.

2. A railway car hand brake comprising a len hwise movable bar, a air of racks on said bar adapted for successive operation, a shaft, multiple gears of different diameters mounted on said shaft to engage said racks, and means for operating said shaft and gears to impart a variable speed movement to said rack'bar.

3. A railway car hand brake' comprising a lengthwise movable bar, a pair of racks on said bar arranged for successive operation, a shaft, a pair of gears of different diameters, one for each rack, mounted on said shaft, and means for operating said shaft to rotatel said gears and impart a variable speed movement to said bar.

4. A railway car hand brake comprising a len thwise movable bar, a pair of racks on said a-r arranged for successive operation, a shaft, a comparatively largesegment gear rigid on said shaft to engage one of said racks, a relatively small gear rigid on said. shaft to engage the other rack, and means for. operating said shaft and gears to-impart a variable speed movement to said bar.

5. A railway car hand brake comprising a lengthwise movable bar, an upper rack and a lower rack on saidbar, ashaft, a segment gear rigid on the shaft to engage the upper rack, a gear rigid on the shaft to engage' the lower rack, and means for operating said shaft and gears.

6. A railway car hand brake comprising a transverse shaft, a lengthwise movable bai angular in cross section, a pair of racks on said bar, the vupperv rack being further removed from the axis of said shaft than the lower rack, a segment gear rrigid on the shaft to en age the upper rack, a gear rigid on the shaft to engage the lower rack, and means for operating said shaft and gears tlzplim'p'art a variable speed movement to said 7. A railwaycar hand brake comprising a'lengthwise movable bar, two rackson said bar in different planes and arranged for successive operation, a transverse shaft, a segment gear rigid on said shaft to engage the' upper rack, a gear of smaller diameter than the segment gear on said shaft to engage the lower rack, and means for operat-l ing said shaft comprising a handle lever and ratchet mechanism to impart a variable speed movement to said bar.

8. A railway carhand' brake comprisin a lengthwise movable bar and an upper ang a lower rack thereon indifferent planes, the upper rack extending from approximately the upper end of the bar downward and the lower rack extending downward from approximately the lower end of the upper rack, .a transverse shaft, multiple gears of different diameters on said shaft to'engage said racks, .a lever handle loosely mounted on the shaft l and "ratchet mechanism to connect said lever handle to thefshaft for rotating s an upward guide extension, a'lengthwise movable bar guided inv said extension and having a plurality of racks thereon adapted for successive operation, a transverse shaft,l multiple gears of different diameters on said shaft to engage the racks on said bar, and means for operating said shaft and gears to impart a variable v speed movement to said rack-bar.

GEORGE A. wooDMAN. 

